Surgery time, dun dun dun!

Yup, after a week of being nauseated and in pain and thinking we might be expecting again (thank heavens we are not) we found out I have gallstones. 4 really big ones and a couple smaller ones. So, this means surgery for me to get it removed. I'm not excited about this surgery, I'm not going to lie. However, I am really not excited about feeling sick and being doubled over in pain every day either. So it is what it is, crappy! I am grateful we have good technology and doctors to take care of things like this though. Right now we are just waiting to hear from my doctor about what surgeon to use and then hopefully I will get surgery today or tomorrow. I DO NOT want to feel this miserable until monday so I'm praying the surgeon has a spot open. Anyway, wish me luck! For now I'm just laying around, sick. Thanks to Mom and Adam for all the help.

My Baby is 6 months!

Rachel can...

Sleep 7-8 hours very Consistently at night. 10pm-5am or if I cave and don't make her stay awake 9pm-4am. Then she nurses and sleeps until 8am typically.

Eat rice cereal, baby food, baby yogurt bites, cherrios, Graham crackers, small pieces of bread and she loves water!

She can mimic what I do with my voice with her own voice.

Get around the house like a pro in her walker. The carpet takes great effort but she can steer the walker now.

Put her own binki in her mouth. Well, put anything and everything in her mouth, really.

Stand up against things like the couch, my legs, the train table.

Sit up for an hour easily. Roll, but she doesn't like to.

Sit in the high chair like a big girl! She likes to be up higher to see what is going on.

Snuggle her Mom very well. Is a bit of a Mommas girl. Dad gets to spend time with her every night for this reason.

Wear a bow in her hair with no head band! It is long enough now and can even have an elastic on top for 1 pig tail. :)

Play with her brother. She likes interacting with Dayton. She watches him play, she giggles at him in the bath, she squeals when he says "Good morning Rach!" She really loves her big brother!

Pick up small things with her pointer finger and thumb. Like cherrios off the high chair tray! Great!

Interacts with other kids and babies. She recognizes them from a distance and will smile and make noises at other little people. It's cute!

So without further adu....

Tree & Prayers

Dayton's first drawing of a tree! He did it all on his own then told me, "look mama, tree!" Smarty pants!

I also wanted to note that D can now say his prayers. He can start and end on his own and say thank you for specific people in the middle all by himself. Wow!!! It is seriously the most heart warming thing ever! Except when he says "thank you for Jared" before he says mommy. Yup! It's true, I am not as cool as Jared and his motorcycle. So grateful for my son.

I have the best husband!

I have not been feeling too good lately and the kids have been tough. To add to the stress Adam is going away this weekend on his annual bike trip with his brother, Josh, and my brother, Jared, is going too. I'm glad he gets to go out and do something he loves! After all it is only once or sometimes twice a year. However, a weekend without help after a long week with crying kids and not feeling well myself makes it hard for me to be 100% gung ho about the trip. So, Adam was the best and before he left he got some groceries for me this weekend, vacuumed and picked up the living room, helped with the dishes, and brought me flowers! Love you babe!
And just for the record five minutes after the guys left I had the tent set up in the living room and a movie going for our "fun night" together, including kettle corn. Yum! I told Dayton what we were going to do and he said "that's gonna be fun!!!" in a squeal with a huge grin on his face. Love again!

Hands on fun!

We made jam squares AND had a blast! Dayton sat on the counter with the bowl between his legs and squished all the ingredients together with his fingers. Then he put the bottom crust in all by himself and helped me pat it down. Then I poured in the jam which Dayton gladly licked the spoon. Then he got to sprinkle the topping on the top. He said "spwinkle, spwinkle" it was so cute!!! Rach ate cheerio's in the high chair while we made them. :)

I want to be a great cook!

I like to cook. I LOVE to bake! I think I learned this from my mother. Growing up she always prepared dinner and often baked a goody for snack or dessert after family time in the evening. Today I have been thinking a lot about the habits I am in from growing up with such a "great cook" for a Mom.

Habit 1: Cooking family dinner almost every night. We don't go out to eat very often. If we do it is because I am too tired to cook or we are on the go headed out of town. We are not one of those families that drives main street to decide what is for dinner. This is because of the way I was raised and I am grateful. On the other hand sometimes I think I put pressure on myself to always make something awesome for dinner.  I want to be as great and as "on top of things" as my Mom was or at least as she seemed. And sometimes when my meal doesn't turn out awesome or how my Mom's turns out I am bummed.

Habit 2: I bake something at least once a week, sometimes twice. Why? Because it is something to do during the day with Dayton for cheap and I think it brings me a bit of comfort or a piece of home. I also like to try new things or should I say treats. I enjoy mixing things up and seeing if they turn out yummy. I think  I am already teaching Dayton to like the same thing. He knows when I get out the mixer and bowl that we are baking and he promptly pulls over a chair and says "Mommy I want to help!" and "I want to do it!" This usually results in a mess but that is okay around here. He also sticks his finger in the bowl and tastes what ever we are making. Sometimes this means that he gets a mouthful of flour, sometimes it means he picks out the chocolate chips, sometimes it is the finished brownie batter all over his arms and face, and sometimes it means he licks spicy or yucky things which is funny to watch. We enjoy baking together!

Habit 3: I think about food a lot because I like to cook. I enjoy getting online and looking up new recipes. Lately I have been trying really hard to find new healthy recipes because all these sweets are really adding nicely to my muffin top. Blah! Anyway, I am content with my body right now because I am nursing still. However, I know I can always do better on not "pigging out" on the sweets. I need to remember to have one and enjoy it and savor  it and NOT eat the whole pan. This is possibly a bad habit I have picked up from all my mother's great baking? Anyone else out there feel like this? Back on the subject, I like to try new recipes and therefore I have a habit of being online finding good things to try out. I guess there are worse things and after all I do need some time for just me. If it is searching for new recipes late at night while the kids sleep then so be it. I guess there are far worse things.

And this one is for tomorrow....

Good night all! Sweet dreams, ha ha! 

Sunny Weekend

We started the weekend off with the Father and Son campout. Dayton and Adam went up to Bear Lake for the camp and it was just an overnighter. They both had a good time although of course Dayton got hurt. Apparently he ran into a cement wall! Wow Adam! I guess it wouldn't be a father and son's camp without an injury, right? The boys pitched a tent because the place the ward was staying was one big open cabin with tons of bunk beds and there was no way D would sleep. I guess that was not a great plan because Adam said in the middle of he night the sprinklers went on and soaked their tent. He had to drag it up onto the deck of the cabin. Dayton was so tired, because he went to bed at 11pm, that he stayed asleep through it all! Impressive!

Saturday we planted our "garden". This year with the move and all we are a bit behind and we decided to keep it small. We are not even planting in our "garden spot" but rather a flower bed type thing that lines our east fence in the back yard. We spent about 4 hour weeding, tilling, picking out rocks, etc to get it ready to plant in. Our yard is WAY overgrown with weeds since the last people were gone for quiet a while and didn't stay on top of it well. Anyway, we planted 8 tomatoes, 1 cucumber and then16 strawberries in the south east corner that will stay our strawberry patch forever. Next year the tomatoes will be replaced with raspberries and the idea is the east side will be for fruit and the "garden spot" on the west fence will be for vegetables.

Saturday night we went to the Richmond parade and horse pull. The parade was small but enjoyable. Dayton yelled "hi" and wave to everyone in the parade. This resulted in too much candy. :) He would wave to the royalty floats and say "Oh princesses! Hi girls!" we are in trouble and he is only 2. At the pull the kids had fun and were well behaved. Sweet! Although the coolness of the big horses wore off after about the first hour of the three hour horse pull. The heavy weight team that won weighed over 5,000 lbs. together and pulled 8,000 lbs. Crazy to watch these huge animals move so much weight! We got food at the horse pull which was pricy but its fun to give in once in awhile to experience the "fair" food. Adam got the best Philly we have both had, ever. Seriously, delicious! It has been fun getting out and doing things together in the nice weather. Yeah for summer!

Rachel Girl!

I am in love with my baby girl! Lately life around here has been "hard" to say the least. I'm stressed about starting my preschool all over again after our move, Dayton has been screaming to sleep for naps and bedtime for two weeks (adjusting to new house still) and Dayton is also getting his two year old molars which results in lots of whining ALL the TIME! I feel like hiding in our secret room sometimes and just ignoring it all. Rachel really has been my ray of sunshine, my snuggle bug, my happy girl! I'm grateful for her personality! Not that I don't love Dayton because I do it's just a tough phase right now, I had to note that. :)

Mother's Day

I'm not going to lie both my kids were awful during church. I was about in tears! Dayton cried half of nursery and he never gets upset, he usually loves it. This behavior may of had something to do with keeping him up late the night before at the Smithfeild fireworks. Oh, and the nursery leader kept calling him Charlie (Arf, arf! Totally a dog name) but we got that straightened out. It wasn't really a "happy" mothers day. However, we did see my family and gave my Mom her gift which she loved! A photo album of pictures with her and the kids. We also talked to my brother Joe in Argentina and he is doing well, minus a not so cool companion. Dayton successfully sang Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam to Joe as well. That night we went on a family walk (which consisted of lots of crying, no surprise) and before bed I had a big bowl of ice cream and lots of tears from a LONG day! It just was NOT our day at the Chandler home. I guess you can say it is the phase of life we are in right now. Baby phase, tantrum phase, having two poopy bums to change, two little kids who still need lots of help and very little sleep all around.

I'll love you forever...

And this is why! You are the father of my children and a good one at that!

New Style

I needed a change and I love it! This will force me to take 15 minutes to do my hair instead of the normal wet bun. Then I'll feel like a whole new woman every day instead of a frumpy mom. :)